Navy Seals Faced With Recruitment Challenge

May 15, 2007|By Louis Hansen/The Virginian-Pilot

VIRGINIA BEACH — New members are needed for wars in the Middle East as more veterans jump ship.

The 14 young men gathered in a parking lot at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base came in two basic shapes: thin and muscular, and thick and muscular. Huddled on a patch of grass, they stretched backs, legs and arms as they braced for a physical and mental onslaught intended to test their bodies and psyche.

The calm erupted when a chiseled special operations sailor dashed toward the group with the speed and malice of an NFL linebacker.

"You're going to fail!" he screamed.

He was right. Odds are these men will fail -- only 1 in 4 who make it to the SEALs' grueling basic training actually break into the elite force.

WARS TAKE TOLL

The rigorous weeding out is one reason the SEAL ranks face a shortage. They've also failed to recruit enough new SEALs and are having trouble keeping veterans from leaving.

New blood is needed more than ever as this commando force of 2,450 -- roughly half based here, the other half in Coronado, Calif. -- is being asked to do far more because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

SEALs are stretched so thin and strained by the most vigorous deployment schedule in their 45-year history that defense experts warn about their readiness and ability to contain hot spots around the world. These days, nearly 90 percent of Special Forces deployments are focused in the Middle East, leaving other volatile areas unchecked.

Special Forces are needed to train small foreign units to quell terrorist threats within their national borders, Vice Adm. Eric Olson, deputy commander of Special Operations Command, told senators during an April hearing.

It's perhaps the commandos' most crucial mission, he said: "We know that we cannot kill or talk our way to victory."

Pressures on the SEALs -- and throughout much of the military -- worry retired Army Brig. Gen. John H. Johns, a counter insurgency expert and Vietnam War veteran. "We just cannot continue this without breaking the military, including the SEALs," he said in a recent interview with The Virginian-Pilot.

Symptoms of a slowly breaking force are showing already throughout the ranks: troop exhaustion, the exodus of promising young officers and experienced non-commissioned officers, worn-out equipment and overall readiness for the next conflict.

The Pentagon has ordered a 25 percent increase in SEAL forces by 2011. SEAL recruiters say they are making progress, but the Navy's top admiral, Mike Mullen, fears that there aren't enough men to reach the goal.

The Government Accountability Office found last year that the Navy has filled just 86 percent of the enlisted SEAL jobs allocated to the force. Between 2000 and 2005, SEALs failed to meet their authorized enlisted levels, much less increase their ranks.

PAY LURES SEALS AWAY

Private security firms such as North Carolina-based Blackwater USA have lured active-duty military away from the service with high-paying security contracts, retired SEALs say. Former commandos can make more than $100,000 a year in the private army; a typical SEAL with 10 years of experience earns about $57,000 in salary and housing allowances. Combat pay and re-enlistment bonuses can push enlisted pay rates higher.

Don Shipley spent two decades in the Navy as a SEAL, retiring in 2003 as a senior chief petty officer.

Shipley left because he doubted he would get a chance to lead a small unit in Iraq. He signed on with Blackwater, working as a soldier for hire.

"You wanted a piece of that war," he said. "That's why a lot of guys go."

Don Mann, a retired chief warrant officer, spent more than two decades in the SEALs and now works for a defense contractor.

Mann has deployed to the Middle East several times, usually for a few weeks or months at a time, he said. He works for a security contractor he declined to identify, citing the employer's security rules.

"They're high-paying jobs and very exciting, too," said Mann, who added that contractors can triple a Navy salary.

DAUNTING DUTIES

For active-duty SEALs, their work is becoming harder and longer. Prior to the war, a regular rotation consisted of 18 months of training followed by a six-month deployment. During flash points of the war, SEALs trained just 12 months between deployments. They have recently moved back to 24-month cycles.

Still, the schedule keeps SEALs away from home for weeks at a time.

The teams have been running at a high tempo, said SEAL Cmdr. Bob Smith, commanding officer of SEAL Team 2 at Little Creek.

"It takes away from professional development time and it cuts into their family time," he said. "It's been somewhat of a stress."

SEALs have been criticized for washing out too many recruits with tough screening tactics.

Government investigators blamed weak recruiting and the difficulty of completing the basic SEALs school, known as Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, or BUD/S. It's held at Coronado Naval Amphibious Base near San Diego.